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Tuesday 17 October 2017

Mon 16th Oct – Heads down as Ophelia passes by

Unsurprisingly, there was little to report from the island, birdwise, on Monday. Windy conditions from first thing developed into a sustained severe gale, with dangerously strong storm-force gusts, during the late morning, throughout the afternoon and well into the evening, as ex-hurricane Ophelia showed her hand. A message from Alan Rowland, part of the team of Lundy Field Society conservation volunteers working on the island this week said, "I have never seen such seas". Huge quantities of recently cut hay that had been drying out on the Tent Field were liberally distributed around the village and elsewhere, prompting an all-hands-on-deck tidying-up operation today. Otherwise, initial reports suggest that the island may have escaped relatively unscathed, in contrast to the Bird Observatory at Skokholm, which is just about within sight of Lundy on an exceptionally clear day. Our very best wishes to the team there as they assess the damage and get on with the clean-up and emergency repairs.

This morning (Tuesday 17th) Richard Campey reports light winds and a remarkably calm(ish) sea off Lundy, while MS Oldenburg has just set sail from Ilfracombe, bang on schedule; how quickly things can change in less than 24 hours!

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